“Several” Teams Interested In Being Featured On Hard Knocks

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell told reporters on Thursday that “several” teams are interested in being featured on HBO’s Hard Knocks this year.

“There were a lot of discussions with clubs at the March meeting [in Orlando, Fla.],” said Goodell, via Adam Jahns of the Chicago Sun-Times.

“There are several clubs that are interested in doing this. I just don’t have an update on which club, whether it’s going to be a volunteer or if it’s somebody who is going to have to fulfill the obligation. But I’m sure that decision will be made pretty soon.”

NFL owners enacted a rule that allows them to choose a team to appear on Hard Knocks if they don’t have a team willing to volunteer.

Teams can be chosen from a group of teams who haven’t:

• Hire a new head coach
• Make the playoffs at least one in the past two seasons
• Appeared on the show in past 10 years.

Based on this criteria, there are eight teams that could be forced to participate in the show. These teams include: Bears, Bills, Cardinals, Giants, Jaguars, Raiders, Rams and Steelers.

Goodell admitted that some teams have shown some resistance about doing the show, which is hardly surprising given that NFL teams haven’t exactly been lining up in recent years.

“To be fair yes, sure,” Goodell said. “That’s one of the reasons why we passed the policy that we did is to get every team the opportunity to do this. We understand that it’s an additional responsibility, that it’s an additional thing to film out around your [training] camp and some clubs prefer not to have it.

“But it’s important for all clubs to contribute to it in some fashion. I think we designed a very interesting concept that allows teams if you have a coaching change not to have that be an issue, but also have some kind of rotation to it.”

[polldaddy poll=7731522]